Mom charged with DWI had covered baby on board

Updated 6:11 pm, Thursday, December 13, 2012

CPS was called in to take custody of the infant after officers arrested Jessica Barber Gutierrez, 40, of Kingwood, on a DWI charge. (Scott Engle / Montgomery County Police Reporter)

CPS was called in to take custody of the infant after officers arrested Jessica Barber Gutierrez, 40, of Kingwood, on a DWI charge. (Scott Engle / Montgomery County Police Reporter)

Photo: Montgomery County Police Reporter

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Jessica Gutierrez.

Jessica Gutierrez.

Mom charged with DWI had covered baby on board

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A 40-year-old mother arrested on a drunken driving charge had her 8-month-old child buried underneath clutter in the back seat of her car, Montgomery County officials said.

Jessica Barber Gutierrez is charged with driving while intoxicated with a child after Montgomery County Precinct 4 deputies said she was initially found parked in the middle of a road for no apparent reason about 10 p.m. Wednesday, Pct. 4 Captain Mark Seals said.

Plainclothes deputies noticed her car parked and thought she might need roadside assistance. After the officers pulled up behind her, she started her car and drove it a short distance to the Valero gas station at Loop 494 at FM 1314 in Porter, Seals said.

On-duty deputies were called to the scene and performed a field sobriety test on the woman. Investigators said Gutierrez admitted drinking one beer and said she had taken Xanax and Prozac. Deputies said she showed multiple signs of impairment and failed the field sobriety test.

A deputy noticed something moving in the woman's back seat and discovered her infant daughter in a car seat buried in the cluttered back seat, almost not visible, buried beneath clothing, boxes and a skateboard, officials said.

"The child was almost completely covered with clothes," Seals said.

The child was taken into Child Protective Services custody.

Whether the woman was trying to hide the child underneath the clutter was unclear, the captain said. Gutierrez submitted to a blood draw at a hospital.

Possible child endangerment charges are pending, Seals said.

"That is something we are looking at," he said. "The reason we are looking at that is she has a previous conviction for endangerment."

The Kingwood mother has previously been charged with driving while intoxicated and endangerment to a child, Seals said. Harris County court records show that in May 2004, she was charged with endangerment to a child for running a red light under the influence of Alprazolam, or Xanax, an anti-anxiety medication. Seals did not know which county charged her with her first driving while intoxicated. Public records show a charge in Galveston from 2000.